When I get past the entrance, I walk into a dark room, seeing the stage at the end, and I watch the curtains part. A bright light centers on the woman, and all the air leaves my lungs.
Standing there, glowing with perfection, is my girl.
3
Tiffany
The cheers of the audience meet my ears as they always do when the curtains part. The stage light blocks my vision of the audience, and it’s something I’m always thankful for. I know what’s out there: a sold-out crowd, mostly men, here to see Foxy Bow.
I start my routine, something I’ve done so many times I can do it in my sleep. I pop my hip to the first beat of the music that fills the theatre, silencing the crowd.
I don’t hear so much as a pin drop before I’m off the ground. He had me before I ever saw him. A strong body lifts me from my feet. A squeal leaves my lips as a giant of a man tosses me over his shoulder. I've had men try to get onstage before, but no one has ever made it this far without security taking them to the ground.
Flipping my hair out of my face, I see Charles and Mandy following behind the man who’s carrying me. Their faces don’t look worried, just shocked as the man carries me away from the crowd and through the backstage area, never breaking stride as he carries me further and further from the show.
Maybe he’s a bodyguard and something has gone wrong. That thought quickly leaves my mind when the man’s deep voice fills my ears and makes my head spin. A voice I thought I’d never hear again in my life.
“Bunny.” With one word, so many emotions flood my body, overtaking everything, and I feel myself go limp. All the fear I was holding inside me leaves with the simple word. If Ethan has me in his arms, I’m utterly safe.
“Are you going to stop him?” Mandy says to Charles as they follow us out from the backstage area into the casino.
“There is no stopping a man with that look on his face,” Charles replies, making me want to see the look on Ethan’s face. I wonder if it still looks the same as it did ten years ago, but if the size of his body is any indication, I’m guessing not. I don’t remember him being this big all over, but I was never draped on him like this either.
“She’s mine. Back the fuck off, Charles.” Ethan’s hard voice is lethal, but it’s one I’ve heard him use before. The same one he always used when protecting me.
“Is this, like, a thing? Do casino owners just grab women they want and declare them as theirs or something? Because I’m starting to see a trend,” Mandy comments as she shoots Charles a glare that holds no heat to it. She’s always got something smart to say.
“Ethan, I don’t know where you think you’re going, but you can’t just take off with my employees.” At Charles’s words, Ethan stops in his tracks and turns so I can no longer peek at Mandy and Charles.
“Call her ‘mine’ one more time, Charles, and I’ll burn this fucking building down. Then you’ll have no fucking use for employees. You won’t call them yours then.”
“It’s like that?”
“It’s way fucking far beyond ‘like that.’”
No one says anything for a few moments, and Ethan turns and starts walking again.
“Stop him,” I hear Mandy say, but Charles grips her hand, not letting her follow.
“She’s not fighting him,” is all I can hear Charles say before he’s too far away for me to make out any more of his words. Ethan’s making a quick retreat, and I feel the Vegas night air hit my exposed skin as we step outside. Suddenly, I hear Ethan bark out an order.
“Door!”
I’m shoved into the back of a limo and quickly pulled into Ethan’s lap, straddling him. I have only a moment to take in his face before he grabs my neck, pulling me to his mouth.
Ethan kissed me once when we were young. It was a soft touch of his lips to mine. It happened two days before he was taken from my life. It was my first and only kiss.
This, however, is nothing like that first kiss, or how I thought our first real kiss would be. I’d pictured it soft, slow and sweet, but this is filled with so much more. It’s infused with the emotion and feeling pouring from both of us.
His hands on my neck hold me tight to him while our warm lips meet and his mouth opens. His tongue presses into my mouth, demanding entry that I eagerly grant him, and I’m lost to the powerful connection. It’s not a kiss, it’s the reconnection of our souls, years after being torn apart. It’s as if I’m whole now that his lips are on mine.
All too soon he’s pulling away from me, and I can’t stop myself from trying to follow him, to bring his lips back to mine.
“Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” I beg, finding his mouth again and licking the seam of his lips. His whole body jerks in response, and a low moan rises in his throat.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Bunny, stop. Wait. Please.”
I kiss his neck and chin, and I feel his body tense and shiver against me, pulling me tight to him. After a second, he’s completely lax, and he pulls back from me, his big hands cupping my face.